BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1231
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Date of Hearing: April 29, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Kevin De Leon, Chair
AB 1231 (Portantino) - As Amended: April 22, 2009
Policy Committee: Education
Vote:8-2
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill requires the right of part-time adult school teachers
to earn and retain annual reappointment rights to be a mandatory
subject of collective bargaining with respect to a new or
successor contract between school districts and the exclusive
bargaining representative of the certificated employees of that
district on or after January 1, 2010. Specifically, this bill:
Defines "part-time adult school teacher" as a person employed as
a temporary employee who teaches adults at least 20% of the
total hours per week that a full-time permanent employee works
and who has received satisfactory job performance reviews.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)GF/98 state reimbursable mandated costs, likely in excess of
$220,000, to require annual reappointment rights of part-time
adult education teachers to be a part of the collective
bargaining process. Actual costs will depend on the number of
school districts that currently collectively bargain this
issue.
There is a collective bargaining mandate for K-12 public
schools, which totals approximately $30 million GF/98
annually. However, the state has deferred the payment of K-12
mandates for the last several years. In total, the state owes
approximately $166.9 million GF/98 in prior year claims for
the collective bargaining mandate.
2)To the extent this measure leads to increased compensation
(including benefits) for part-time adult education teachers,
there is unknown, potential GF/98 cost pressure, likely in the
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range of $1 million to $5 million, to school districts.
3)The 2009 Budget Act allocates $634.7 million (GF/98) for adult
education, which represents a total reduction of 19.8% from
the 2008 Budget Act (as passed in October 2008). Of this
reduction, 15.4% was made to the 2008 Budget Act allocation
and carried forward to the 2009-10 fiscal year (FY), with an
additional 4.4% reduction applied 2009 Budget Act.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . The Educational Employment Relations Act (EERA) of
1976 establishes collective bargaining in the state's K-12
public schools and community colleges. While EERA does not
impose collective bargaining on school districts, it grants
school employees the right to form and join a union.
Essentially, statute leaves the process of negotiating a
contract to the union and the school district while providing
the legal framework for collective bargaining to occur.
Furthermore, while statute grants full-time and part-time K-12
school teachers reappointment rights, adult school part-time
teachers do not have these same rights. According to the
author "Students would be better served under the proposed
changes?because there will be more continuity of service
provided via the teacher. Districts would be well served by
having an additional tool to help them develop and continue a
more stable workforce."
2)Adult education , a voluntary program, provides courses in 10
instructional areas including basic skills, English as a
second language, vocational education, home economics, and
parent education. Current law allows school districts, COEs,
community colleges, and other organizations to establish adult
education programs. The state supports these adult schools
based on average daily attendance (ADA), which equals 525
hours per unit of classroom seat time. According to the SDE,
there were 320 adult education programs serving approximately
1.24 million students in 2007-08. According to the State
Department of Education, adult programs earned approximately
287,351 ADA.
3)K-12 Categorical Program Flexibility . As part of the February
2009 budget process, K-12 local education agencies were
provided with unprecedented fiscal and policy flexibility
related to over 40 categorical programs. Specifically, any
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LEA that received funding for specified categorical programs
in the 2008-09 FY is authorized to use this funding for any
other educational purpose until the 2012-13 FY. The LEA may
choose to continue operating the categorical program that it
received funding for or redirect it for any other educational
purpose it deems appropriate. Adult education programs are
subject to this flexibility.
4)Arguments in opposition . Opponents of this measure argue that
adult education programs significantly different from
traditional K-12 education programs and should not be subject
to the same reappointment rights that exist for K-12
employees. For example, programs do not operate on a
traditional school calendar (i.e., hours of the day or offer
classes every day). Likewise, they argue that the content of
adult education programs is dictated by community needs and
interests. For example, there may be a significant need for
highly technical classes in a community due to a surge in a
particular industry or business. If that industry leaves the
area, however, these classes may be in less demand.
Therefore, the need for instructors in this area will also
diminish.
Finally, adult education programs receive significantly lower
per pupil funding than K-12 programs (i.e., approximately
$2,120 per ADA). Also, they receive funding for a fixed
amount of students (see comment #2 above). Opponents argue
that these fiscal and programmatic factors make it necessary
for adult education programs to maintain flexibility in their
workforce decisions.
5)Previous legislation . AB 2053 (Karnette), an identical bill
to this measure, was held on this committee's suspense file in
May 2008.
Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916)
319-2081